Evidence lifted from the scene of a double murder in Għaxaq in March was exhibited in court as proceedings continued against the man accused of the premeditated attack upon his mother and sister.
Joseph Bonnici, 38, was charged with killing the two women inside the family home after planning the crime to the very last detail, building the firearm used on the night and moving the bodies to the chosen burial spot in a nearby field.
A police officer, involved in the investigations that had kicked off after the two victims had first been reported missing by Mr Bonnici himself, took the witness stand on Wednesday describing the discovery of the corpses and his role in what followed after.
Sergeant Kevin Manicolo, together with other scene of crime officers, had been present on March 30 when the suspect murderer accompanied the police to the site where he had dumped his victims’ bodies, after breaking down under interrogation and confessing to the crime.
The witness recalled how officers, removing the soil at the indicated spot, had soon discovered the two corpses that were taken away to the mortuary.
The gruesome discovery had taken place in the very early hours of the morning and the autopsy had followed merely hours later, at around 10.30am, the court was told.
During a previous sitting, pathologists Marie Therese Camilleri Podestà and Ali Salfraz, who had performed the autopsies, had confirmed that both victims had been shot in the head and had also suffered trauma compatible with a heavy object since both their heads had been “smashed”.
PS Manicolo explained how he had lifted soil samples from the burial site and had taken them for analysis.
The witness had also photographed the entire process at the Wasteserv site while workers emptied a skip in search of the sledgehammer allegedly used in the murder, returning later to collect the “sizeable” weapon which was handed over to the DNA expert.
Earlier in the compilation, the court had been given a description of this weapon: a sledgehammer with an iron handle and weighing more than six kilograms.
The witness had also returned to the mortuary to take possession of the clothes that had been worn by the victims at the time of the murder, as well as cash carried by the elder woman.
The various items of evidence, 20 in all, were deposited in court by the witness inside sealed brown paper bags. The items belonging to the victims were preserved in two separate nylon bags.
The case continues.
The court is presided over by Magistrate Joseph Mifsud. Inspector Roderick Attard prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri were defence counsel.